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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27142112">We'll Outshine The Sun</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/grapeflavoredorange/pseuds/grapeflavoredorange'>grapeflavoredorange</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Persona 5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst with a Happy Ending, Depression, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Let Sakamoto Ryuji Say Fuck, Loneliness, Post-Canon, Post-Game, Suicide mention, no persona 5 royal, nothing too heavy though, post vanilla ending, rated t for language but it's not that bad</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 21:15:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,383</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27142112</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/grapeflavoredorange/pseuds/grapeflavoredorange</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Look how far we've come<br/>Found a bond that lasted<br/>We'll outshine the sun<i></i></i>
</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kurusu Akira &amp; Phantom Thieves of Hearts, Kurusu Akira &amp; Sakamoto Ryuji</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>38</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>We'll Outshine The Sun</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Anger? Was that what he felt?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>No, there was definitely something else there. Something heavy, something murky, like a storm brewing overhead, like the humidity in the air that’s so thick you can barely breathe. Along with it comes fear, being afraid that you’ll never be happy again, that you’re doomed to feel deprived and sluggish and joyless and </span>
  <em>
    <span>useless </span>
  </em>
  <span>for the rest of your life. It’s so many feelings brewing and collapsing in on each other that you can’t even tell what’s real anymore.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Yeah, that was fitting.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Even with that, Akira didn’t really know how he felt anymore. The time he spent holed up in his bedroom by himself was so long that he couldn’t tell what day it was anymore. Being alone in his small hometown without the glowing, warm presence of his friends was draining, combined with the apathetic attitude his parents still held towards him, and Morgana could only be a source of comfort for so long. Akira knew his friends missed him just as much as he missed them, and they had discussed plans to get him back to Tokyo as soon as possible, but those things took time, and it had now been months since he stepped out of the van and exchanged tearful goodbyes with them before they left. Were they still coming to get him? Akira didn’t know. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Even if they were, would they still want him back seeing how little of their leader was left in him? Would they forgive him for letting what was left of Joker fade away into nothing more than a memory while they were away? There was no more Metaverse for them to escape to, no more masks to present to each other, no more reason for them to need each other--no more reason for them to need Akira anymore. Everyone had found their purpose. Ryuji was working on getting back in shape, Ann was on the way to reaching the top of the modeling world, Yusuke had found his muse, Makoto and Futaba and Haru were no longer living for anyone else--just themselves, and while Akira couldn’t be happier for them, he still secretly longed to go back to the previous year, to be surrounded by his friends, to be needed again. Would things be better off if he killed himself? The world had proven that it had no need for him anymore, so why stay any longer? </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>---</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Akira sighed heavily as he sat up in bed and ran his hands through his hair, looking around the room for a sign of life besides himself. Morgana was snoozing lightly on the end of his bed, and he could hear the muffled sound of rain from outside. Akira turned on his phone, wondering what time it was, and was greeted with several rows of notifications, no doubt from his friends. He smiled sadly at them, wanting to respond, but knowing that it would just be a bother. They didn’t need to waste their time with him. Especially not when he wakes up at two in the afternoon and doesn’t even read their texts. This, Akira thought to himself, was surely what was going through their minds. They had all found their purposes. They didn’t need him anymore. Although, he thought as he finished getting dressed and stared at his phone, it wouldn’t hurt to at least entertain them for a bit. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <b>November 17th, 2017 12:42</b>
  </span>
</p><p> </p><p><b>Ryuji: </b>hey man, you ain't texted us in a while, you alright?</p><p><strong>Ryuji: </strong>i know 11/20 is comin up soon and you're probably not feelin your best so i just wanted to check on you</p><p><strong>Ryuji: </strong>everyone else is pretty worried about you too</p><p> </p><p>Akira sighed. Ryuji was right, that was soon. The texts were from only a few hours ago, which meant that he was probably still waiting for a response. Maybe Akira was wrong, and they really did want to talk to him still. Or maybe he was just hallucinating all of this, and in reality nobody had made any attempts to contact him since March when they dropped him off in his hometown and drove away? Akira stared at his phone for a minute, contemplating over whether or not to let Ryuji and the others know that he was indeed still alive, and they needn't worry about him, because he was doing just fine, even though Ryuji <em>was </em>right, and he <em>should </em>reach out for help while it was still there. Eventually, after Akira had thought about it for longer than he needed to, he made his decision. </p><p>He was going to call Ryuji.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Ring...</em>
</p><p>This was a bad idea.</p><p>
  <em>Ring...</em>
</p><p>He's not going to pick up.</p><p>
  <em>Ring...</em>
</p><p>They don't fucking care! None of them do!</p><p>"Hello?"</p><p> </p><p>Akira sighed and clutched his phone in relief. Ryuji had answered. "Um, hello," he started, then immediately mentally kicked himself for starting like that. He hadn't had a proper conversation with his best friend in <em>months, </em>and this is how he starts off? However, Ryuji didn't seem to care in the slightest. "Hey, dude!" he exclaimed. "How are ya? Everything okay over there?"</p><p> </p><p>Ryuji's enthusiasm managed to force a small smile onto Akira's face. "I'm fine," he replied, feeling a lump forming in his throat. "I got your texts and I decided-" he could already feel tears gathering in his eyes, "I wanted to call. Y-You were right about the-" <em>sniff  </em>"Interrogation thing. I feel-" Akira started, but found himself unable to continue. Ryuji, meanwhile, didn't seem disturbed. "Fuck, Hang on, dude, it's fine, ya don't have to keep goin'," he said quickly, and Akira felt Morgana curling up in his lap while Ryuji frantically tried to get Akira to calm down. "I'm real sorry for bringin' that up," he started, but Akira stopped him. "Don't apologize," he said, sniffing again. "I'm just glad you picked up." Ryuji scoffed. "Why wouldn't I, man? I'd never pass up a chance to talk to ya!" Akira laughed and wiped his eyes on his jacket sleeve. Ryuji kept talking. "I've been waitin' for you to call! Hell, everyone has!"</p><p> </p><p>Akira felt his heart skip a beat. "Really?" he asked, starting to pet Morgana. Ryuji laughed. "Really, dude! Even Boss misses ya! And the cat!" Morgana, now paying more attention to the call, scowled up at the phone. Akira, meanwhile, couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You guys really miss me?" he asked. The blond scoffed. "Of course we do, man! We've been wantin' to make plans to come get ya for ages, but you never answered our texts!" Akira was smiling now, happy tears staining his cheeks. He couldn't believe it. All this time he had thought his friends were only trying to talk to him out of pity, but if Ryuji was right, they missed him as much as he missed them. "When do you think you can come?" he asked nervously. He could practically hear Ryuji rolling his eyes on the other end. "Any time, man! Things have been boring as shit around here ever since you left!" </p><p> </p><p>The next hour was spent by Akira tearfully helping Ryuji plan to get him back to Tokyo as soon as possible while Morgana purred contentedly on his lap. When they finally said their goodbyes, Akira immediately pulled out his trusty cardboard box from the previous year and putting in much more than just clothes this time. "Are we really going back?" Morgana asked as Akira gathered the various souvenirs from the previous year and gently organized them in the box. He nodded. "I get to see Lady Ann again?" Akira nodded again, laughing at the suddenly excited look on the cat's face. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get going!" He immediately jumped off the bed and into Akira's old Shujin bag, the sight of which made him feel both nostalgic and hopeful. He picked up his phone, reading a text from Makoto that said they were on their way, and looked out the window, noticing that it was no longer raining. Instead, watery sunlight was beginning to peek through the clouds and shine off of Akira's glasses, making him feel more hopeful than ever.</p><p> </p><p>The clouds had lifted. The storm had settled. At long last, Akira was finally going home.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>nothing much, just another self-indulgent fic where i project my feelings onto an equally depressed post-game akira and then put in a happy ending because i can't control myself</p><p>please comment/kudos if you enjoyed, and thank you for reading!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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